Words lie inert on the pages of a book. Process of reading breathes life into them – and the inanimate squiggle of ink on paper wakes up with vigour. Sensibilities and idiosyncrasies of a reader endow the same book with various lives in the minds of different readers. I am often astounded to discover that books which moved me to peaks of ecstasy or depths of gloom, have fallen off the conscience of other readers like water off a duck’s back. Way of looking at the world is shaped by our nature. No two natures are alike. Hence, a book cannot evoke mirror worlds in different minds. Reading a book is an experience like all else in life. Except that it is intensely personal, often involves heightened emotions and feelings, and changes the reader a little, although, only occasionally, and perhaps transiently. Philosophers and physicists do not accord time a prime role in a material world, but the world unfolds in our consciousness on a melody set by time. We experience life in its in...
When does a day begin? When does it end? Does dawn arrive with the distant blush of the dark sky? Or does it set in when a young sun hesitatingly appears at the horizon? Does the dwindling warmth announce a day’s demise, or does it linger till the last light is sucked out? Day is imperceptibly born in dawn and dissolves as furtively in dusk. Autumn unhurriedly begets winter. Winter disappears in spring. Spring after a protracted labour births summer that unbeknownst metamorphoses into autumn. When does life begin? Does the beat of foetus’ heart announce a new life? What about the three-day old embryo or a single-celled zygote after fertilization of the egg? Or each of the ova and the millions of sperm? Each of these throbs with potential of bringing forth a new life. Nature goes on cycling in its rhythm, ceaselessly and imperturbably. These relentless revolutions, pursued over eons, give rise to variations. Newer elements born with their unique cycles mingle in the grind of unive...
Desire to live long has agitated human heart for ever. Our myths are built around the immortality of gods in heaven and the transience of life on earth. In their longing for an unending life our ancestors adorned their gods with preposterous life spans. A day in Brahma’s life, Kalpa, comprised 4.32 billion earth-years. This was followed by a night of similar length, Pralaya. Humans are the only animals aware of their mortality. By being aware I mean, we, unlike any other animal, can vividly imagine a future where we would not be around. To preserve life is an instinct of every living organism. But none can imagine the scenario of their own demise. Prospection, an ability to look into the future world, is a unique human attribute. The prospect of death, magnificently illustrated by our foresight, is inconceivably disturbing. Longing to live for ever is born of this fear. Death is negation of living. It is the irrevocable end of everything that a life represented – a companion, a spo...
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